John R. DelaneyBaby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning MonitorThe Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning Monitor lets you talk to your infant and track its sleeping position without a mobile device, but image quality could be better and it comes up short on features.

So-so picture quality. Motion sensor requires you to clip a magnet to your child's clothing. No Wi-Fi support. No mobile app. No way to record video.

Bottom Line

The Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning Monitor lets you talk to your infant and track its sleeping position without a mobile device, but image quality could be better and it comes up short on features.

With the Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning Monitor ($229.99), you can not only peek in on and listen to your baby from any room in the house, you can also monitor your infant's sleeping position in real-time. This baby monitor doesn't offer Wi-Fi, which means it won't connect to your smartphone or tablet. Instead, it comes with a 5-inch color screen that is paired with a low-resolution camera. It gets the job done, but it lacks many of the features that you get with our Editors' Choice, the iBaby Monitor M6S.

Design and Features

The Baby Delight system comes with a video camera, a 5-inch color screen (non-touch), and a small heart-shaped pendant that monitors your baby's sleeping position. The white camera and stand assembly measures 4.2 by 4.0 by 3.6 inches (HWD) and has tilt and swivel adjustability. The base has a charging station for the motion pendant, an on/off switch, a speaker, and a power jack.

The camera is wireless, and has a relatively low 648-by-488 resolution, a 62-degree field of view, and a night vision range of up to 12 feet. The face of the camera has two microphones and a power LED. It uses wireless technology to communicate with the 5-inch monitor and supports two-way audio, but lacks Wi-Fi circuitry. In other words, it is a closed system—you can't check in from your phone wherever you are. An exact wireless range isn't provided, but it's far enough to use all around the house.

The monitor measures 3.6 by 5.5 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and has a 5-inch color screen with a 480-by-272 resolution. Just above the screen are LED indicators that light up when the camera detects sound, and the top edge of the enclosure holds three buttons, including a menu button, a video on/off button, and a volume button. The left side has a push-to-talk microphone button, and the right side has a zoom button with three zoom levels and a brightness up/down button. The rear of the enclosure has a fold-out stand, an embedded speaker, a power jack, and a compartment that holds a rechargeable battery.

The movement pendant (pictured on the baby above) measures 1.5 by 1.8 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and has a detachable magnetic base used to attach the device to your child's pajama top or onesie. To attach it, place the pendant face up in the center of the baby's chest area and slide the magnetic base under the clothing to secure it. The magnets are very powerful to ensure the child can't remove the pendant accidentally, though it's still somewhat unnerving to leave something relatively tiny in your baby's crib. On the front face of the pendant is small on/off button and an LED indicator that glows green when the rechargeable battery is full, amber when a charge will be required soon, and red when a charge is needed immediately.

Whereas most motion detectors sound an alert when there is movement, the included motion pendant triggers an alert when there is no movement. When attached to your child's clothing it will allow you to track movements on the monitor in real-time. It is sensitive enough to react to regular breathing patterns and displays this and other movements as a bar graph on the monitor. It also displays a baby icon that shows your child's sleeping orientation (back, side, stomach). When your baby shifts its position, the icon also changes to reflect the shift. That said, your infant may stop moving when it's sleeping, so you can turn off the motion alerts and just use the Baby Delight as a regular camera.

You can enable and disable the motion alarm, raise and lower the speaker volume, zoom in and out using the zoom button, and adjust the monitor's screen brightness. You can also pair the pendant and the camera to the monitor if for some reason they become disconnected. In the top left corner of the video screen is a battery life meter and an icon is displayed in the right corner when the pendant is disabled. Missing are things like camera settings and motion sensitivity settings.

The Baby Delight also lacks many of the features you get with other monitors. It doesn't offer temperature monitoring, and you can't play lullabies like you can with the Philips Avent SCD860 and the Holababy P1 Smart Baby Video Monitor. Nor does it allow you to record video or take snapshots like you can with the iBaby Monitor MS6.

Installation and Performance

The Baby Delight camera, motion pendant, and 5-inch monitor come paired out of the box and require no setup. Simply plug in the camera and the monitor and you're good to go. To activate the pendant, press and hold the small button until the LED turns green.

The camera delivered decent daytime video in testing, but it lacks the sharp detail and vibrant colors we saw with the iBaby M6S. Black-and-white night video was adequate, but image detail appeared soft with poor contrast. Additionally, the monitor's viewing angles aren't the best; the picture becomes washed out when viewed from a top angle, and is much too dark when viewed from a bottom angle.

On the plus side, the motion pendant responded immediately to position changes and triggered an alert every 15 seconds when no motion was detected. And the monitor's rechargeable battery provided close to six hours of use before requiring a charge.

Conclusions

The Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning Monitor provides an easy way for parents to keep an eye on their infant without the need for a mobile device. Its unique wearable motion detector lets you keep tabs on your baby's sleeping position, but the system doesn't offer network connectivity, which means you can't view video and receive alerts from outside the home. Moreover, it lacks many of the features you get with the current crop of smart baby monitors, including the ability to play lullabies and record video, and its image quality, while adequate, could better.

For an extra $20, the iBaby Monitor M6S is a better deal; its 1080p camera delivers excellent video quality and records video when motion or sound is detected, it plays preprogrammed lullabies as well as songs from your mobile device's music library, and it connects to your home Wi-Fi so you can check in on your infant from anywhere using your smartphone.

Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning Monitor

Bottom Line: The Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement and Positioning Monitor lets you talk to your infant and track its sleeping position without a mobile device, but image quality could be better and it comes up short on features.

About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of t... See Full Bio

Baby Delight 5" Video, Movement...

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